Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress is being made in tackling county lines criminal activity; and if he will make a statement.

We are absolutely committed to tackling county lines. The action we are taking is set out in the Serious Violence Strategy published on 9 April.
We are delivering a cross-Government and agency programme of work to tackle county lines through the County Lines Action Plan (which is published as an Annex to the Serious Violence Strategy). Last December we introduced the Drug Dealing Telecommunications Restriction Orders to enable police to shut down phone lines used to facilitate drug deals, and we have announced funding of £3.6million to establish a new National County Lines Co-Ordination Centre. Raising awareness of county lines and the appropriate safeguarding response is also very important. In July last year we published guidance on county lines for frontline practitioners to help them identify and respond to county lines exploitation and we are currently delivering a nationwide awareness-raising communications campaign.